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Trump Calls Atlantic City Casinos to Action Over Proposed Smoking Ban
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Monday, April 28, 2008
A smoking ban, Donald Trump, and Atlantic City – what else do you need for a little shake up in the wings of the poker stage? When New Jersey legislation was passed last year banning smoking in public places as in neighboring New York, the 11 casino owners of New Jersey were granted partial exemption; an exemption that it seems will be short lived following the passing of a City Council ban.
In other areas, smoking bans have been shown to cause up to an 8% reduction in use of slots and projected figures show that a full New Jersey ban would result in a loss of revenue of up to $1 billion per year after two years. Many players it is believed will travel to the Philadelphia area instead where no such ban exists.
Donald Trump, chairman Trump Entertainment Resorts which owns three of the eleven New Jersey casinos, in response to the legislation called on the Casino Association of New Jersey to file suit and stop the ban coming into effect this coming October.
A government medical website cites the following as the common symptoms of nicotine withdrawal, the suffering of which, Trump apparently argues would put players at a competitive disadvantage:
• An intense craving for nicotine
• Tension
• Irritability
• Headaches
• Difficulty in concentrating
• Drowsiness
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WPT Championship Champion Chiu
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Sunday, April 27, 2008
Four hours and 34 minutes, 80 hands, 6 players, $6,924,330 - the 2008 WPT Championship has a champion. To say that it was a two horse race isn’t entirely fair to the full field, but it really isn’t far off.
Places 3-6 were taken as follows:
3rd John Roveto: $923,355
4th Cory Carroll: $593,645
5th Tommy Le: $395,725
6th Jeff King: $263,815
All were eliminated by Gus Hansen, continuing his ‘terminator’ streak from day 5, and John Roveto the last of the four to stand went out in the 22nd hand causing much discussion regarding the quickest WPT final table ever which was played in 53 hands by Eugene Katchalov in this season’s WPT Five Diamond Classic. It was a record not to be broken today however, as David Chiu (playing with the Full Tilt Poker brand) and Gus Hansen proceeded to battle it out for a further 58 hands!
Despite Hanson have a 5.25:1 chip lead over Chiu at the beginning of heads up play; Chiu took the lead in hand 79. Hand 80 saw Hansen with the button raising 750,000 and Chiu calling. The flop comes out - AC, 10C, 8S to which Chiu checks and Hansen bets 900,000; Chiu calls, making a 3.5 million pot. The turn comes out; a 5S. Chiu bets 1.2 million, and Hansen takes around half a minute to contemplate before going all in for 8,675,000. Chiu then takes a couple of minutes, to count out his chips and call. After such a long battle, the crowd is eager and leap to their feet. Hansen shows a 10S and 8H giving him two pair, whilst Chiu shows AS, 9S giving him a pair of aces with a flush draw. The river card comes - AH: Chiu takes the tournament!
Gus Hansen will take $1,714,800 back to Denmark with him whilst David Chiu will take $3,389,140 from his seventh career first place win.
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WPT Day 5 Leaves Final 6
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Friday, April 25, 2008
Getting off to a fast start, Jeff Shulman was the first to be sent to the rail, followed quickly by Andy Black in yesterday’s Day 5 of the 2008 WPT Championship taking 17th and 16th places respectively. Followed by a lull for over a level, little occurred accept for Tom Dwan’s somewhat striking flamingo hat, and a noodles lunch. Seemingly revitalized by the food, Gus Hansen steamed into action, bowling Nick Binger out of his way followed by David Tran. The next eliminations came in the shape of the prominent Michael Mizrachi who has been a fire brand throughout the whole tournament, and David Chiu; leaving just 11 players left.
Hansen’s roll kept on rolling, taking Michael Gracz out of the game, and securing the final table of ten, with himself as the chip leader with 7,680,000. The first to say goodbye from the final 10 was Kenny Tran who walked away with $158,290, with Tom Dwan and his hat following 15 minutes later. The penultimate elimination was Karga Holt and the last was Amir Vahedi; both sent out by Gus Hansen.
Today will be a well deserved break for all the player, with play resuming tomorrow. This will be Gus Hansen’s seventh WPT Final Table, and should he win it, it will be his fourth WPT title. The chip counts going into the final day are:
Seat 1: John Roveto, 2,720,000
Seat 2: Gus Hansen, 8,570,000
Seat 3: David Chiu, 6,050,000
Seat 4: Tommy Le, 1,950,000
Seat 5: Cory Carroll, 6,670,000
Seat 6: Jeff King, 1,305,000
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WPT Day 4 Round Up
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Thursday, April 24, 2008
Play is due to resume in just a few hours in the Bellagio, where the 17 remaining players will reconvene for the fifth and penultimate day of the World Poker Tour Championship 2008. Let’s take a brief look at what day four had to offer and see who’s still in the game.
Day four was scheduled to run five levels, or get down to the final 18 of the 55 that started the day; the five levels were unnecessary. From the outset there were no easy tables and play was harsh and hard accordingly. Between the downsizing from 7 tables to 4 Zvi Shiff was lost, as was Mats Rahmn, Tom Schneider, Tim Phan, Joe Sebok, J.C. Tran, and Jayde Tran. Isabelle Mercier was the last female in the tournament, and she fell in position 41. The money bubble was burst already on day 3, but day four was about breaking the $100,000 mark and it was here that the longest battle occurred. After two and a half hours of drawn out play it all finally came to a head with James Calderaro and Jonathon Kalmar busting out at virtually the same time. There was speculation as to whether Kalmar would take the 21st position and Calderaro the 20th, or whether it would be deemed a tie. The final eliminations of the day also came in quick succession, hence 17 remaining players rather than 18. Mark Newhouse went to the rail in 19th position with Scott Epstein following in 18th place only 5 minutes later, still from the same hand.
Play resumes today for the remaining 17 at 12 noon PDT.
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PPA: a service for the masses
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Wednesday, April 23, 2008
When the Poker Players Alliance was founded in 2005 it was created to provide professional advocacy for US poker players and enthusiasts alike in the face of an onslaught of anti-poker legislation. Racking up just over half a million members in its first 12 months, its founders realized the importance of its work, but not necessarily its potential for widespread appeal.
Yesterday, whilst announcing the launch of its voter registration program and political committee, it also announced that the grass roots advocacy group has now reached over a million in membership. This milestone for the Washington based group, according to its chairman Alfonse D’Amato “puts the PPA on par with such political powerhouses as AARP and the National Association of Realtors, and will allow us to advocate even more effectively on behalf of our members”.
The PPA works hard to protect the rights of US poker players both on an individual level by offering legal advice, and on the larger scale by lobbying members of Congress and Senate as well as actively working towards the overturning of such laws as the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The PPA relies heavily on membership in order to create a unified message to the countries leaders: “Our collective voice can make a difference to protect our rights to play poker”.
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Poker Execs Shuffle Things Up
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008
If the last few weeks have felt like the biggest news in the poker world has been what the prizes are and who’s been winning them, then the last few days will have come as a welcomed relief. Moving away from the dollar signs and the bright lights it is the runners of the poker world who have been making the news.
Yesterday bore witness to two moves in the higher ranks of the poker industry. Calvin Ayre, CEO of Bodog, and overseer of their 2007 move to the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group announced his retirement via a statement through the company. Considering himself to be have been mostly a “brand ambassador for Bodog” since the move of ownership to Alwyn Morris and Morris Mohawk Gaming Group last year, and the 2006 shift towards an entirely European based team, he feels that his “retiring won’t have any effect operationally” – none the less, he will be missed. Bidding his staff, vendors and advisors thanks and farewell, Ayer intends to dedicate more of his time to the Calvin Ayre Foundation which carries out charitable work around the globe in the areas of Environment, Education, Social Development, Child Welfare and Animal Welfare.
On the same day, the Executive Host for the recently concluded EPT, Lee Jones took the position of Chief Operating Officer of CardRunners.com. His career has included a long time at Pokerstars, and just one year with the European Poker Tour; his expertise and talents will surely be a great asset to CardRunners.
In a slightly different vein, on the 19th of April the World Poker Tour operators announced that they have agreed on an out of court settlement in the suit bought against them by originally 7 players relating to the player release forms used by WPT in 2005/2006. Two of the original 7 dropped their cases. Representatives of WPT Enterprises, Inc. say that they are happy to have settled and that they “have put in place a new release that clears up ambiguities”.
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World Poker Tour Championship gets off to a Quiet Start
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Sunday, April 20, 2008
Last years WPT Championship event attracted just under 640 participants; if yesterday’s day 1A was anything to go by however, this years tournament will pale in comparison. With only 210 players turning out for the first of two day ones, it was a professional’s dominated field.
Hosted in the Bellagio, Las Vegas, the schedule for the 7 play day tournament is as follows:
DAY 1B: 5 x 90-minute levels (Sun, April 20th).
DAY 2: 5 x 90-minute levels (Mon, April 21st).
DAY 3: 5 x 90-minute levels (Tues, April 22th).
DAY 4: Play down to 27 players. (Wed, April 23rd).
DAY 5: Play down to six players. (Thur, April 24th).
Friday, April 23: Off Day
FINAL TABLE: Play down to a champion (Sat, April 25th)
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Chorny Champion
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Friday, April 18, 2008
After 13 hours of final day play, and 274 hands, the 2008 European Poker Tour Grand Final champion emerged. There were only 2 hands of heads-up play, but that was all it took for Canadian Glen Chorny to see off Denes Kalo’s KH, QD hand on an AS, QS, 6S, 6D, 10D board, with a AH, 5H.
22 year old Chorny hales from Northern Ontario, Canada, but when he is not winning poker tournaments he studies business and history at Wilfred Laurier, Waterloo, Ontario. Despite already securing a WSOP bracelet just a few months ago in the World Poker Open Pot limit Omaha Championship, this is only his fourth live tournament cash finish since he started playing poker 4 years ago. He has officially been playing pro since his WSOP win in January, but prior to that was playing big online having become interested in the game through watching it on TV.
The final table positions and prizes were:
1. Glen Chorny (Canada) $3,090,600
2. Denes Kalo (Hungary) $ 1,803,870
3. Maxime Villemuir (Canada) $1,093,950
4. Issac Baron (USA) $901,170
5. Michael Martin (USA) $644,130
6. Luca Pagano (Italy) $515,610
7. Valeriy Ilikyan (Russia) $387,090
8. Antonia Esfandiari (USA) $257,040
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The Sun Sets on 2008 EPT
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Thursday, April 17, 2008
The weathermen predict a slightly overcast day with 15 mph ENE winds: The pundits predict a rocky day with highs and lows and a late burst of sunshine – It can only be Monte Carlo and the final day of the 2008 EPT Grand Final.
Yesterday’s day four saw everyone a winner as the pay bubble had already been burst on day 3; however, it was a long day with no one prepared to bail out with second best. Thomas Brolin, Raymond Rahme, Freddy Deeb, Amit ‘AMAK316’ Makhika, Claudio Pagano, Rami ‘arbianight’ Boukai, and one of the tournament’s front runners Johnny Lodden, all fell by the wayside.
Providing the humor factor in a stressful day was Vincent Secher; an online qualifier Secher opted for camping in Nice throughout the tournament in order to be economical. Pokerstars.com, hearing of this, put him up in the Monte Carlo Bay hotel. In order to show thanks, he rocked up at the table yesterday in his bathrobe from the hotel! Unfortunately, he was doing better as a camper; he left the table in position 13.
With only 3 minutes left of play, and still 11 players in the running, the final hand of the day served its purpose and marked the end for Joe Hachem. The final 10 will return to the table today at 14.00 local time in to play for the $3.2 million first prize. This is the chip count going into the final table:
1. Glen Chorny: 3,370,000
2. Isaac 'westmenloAA' Baron: 2,365,000
3. Michael Martin: 1,579,000
4. Maxime Villemure: 1,220,000
5. Denes Kalo: 957,000
6. Antonio Esfandiari: 735,000
7. Luca Pagano: 705,000
8. Valeriy Ilikyan: 650,000
9. Stig Top Rasmussen: 590,000
10. Henrik Gwinner: 466,000
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Biggest European Poker Tournament Ever!
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Monday, April 14, 2008
It was predicted to be, but Day 1B of the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo proved the predictions correct: Day 1A attracted 392 players, the second first day exceeded that amount by 58, making the 2008 Monte Carlo EPT Grand Final the biggest poker tournament in Europe ever.
Day 1B had throughout a sense of 'being up for grabs'; it wasn't until late in the day that a clear chip leader emerged. Both Daniel Negreanu and Gus Hansen consistently came up trumps throughout the day, whilst Marc Karam, two time EPT Grand Final final table player, had his hopes dashed in the early levels. The chip leader position was held early on by James 'Pokerpro' Campbell, and then Jordan 'Octavian' Rich, only to later be taken by Chad Brown who looked set to take it home when in the sixth level he had double the average stack. Rich will not be returning tomorrow, having been sent to the rail in the final minutes of play.
It was Frenchman Cyril Bensoussan who really took the day though; the first to top 100,000 and finishing the day as chip leader, a full 53,000 above the number 2:
1. Cyril Bensoussan: 135,000
2. Raul Paez: 82,000
3. Uffe Holn: 79,000
4. James Campbell: 62,000
5. Danny Ryan: 55,000
6. Surinder Sunar: 42,700
7. Dario Alioto: 42,000
8. Marc Goodwin: 41,000
9. Joe Hachem: 40,400
10. Daniel Negreanu: 35,200
The tournament will resume with Day 2 today at 13:00 local time.
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No Disappointment: Day 1A Monte Carlo EPT Grand Final
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Sunday, April 13, 2008
With day 1b of the Monte Carlo European Poker Tour Grand Final due to start in a just a few hours, at 1pm local time, let’s have a glance over the first day of play; its highlights and surprises.
The opening day set the scene for what may be the biggest EPT grand final yet; the first of two first days saw 392 entrants, all of whom were welcomed with lights, music, and a recap of the best poker action from the tour’s events; plus of course the image of last years winner, Gavin Griffin, holding aloft his glass trophy.
Pro eliminations came hard and fast for so early on in the tournament; before the day was done the likes of Phil Ivey, Katia Thater, Marco ‘CrazyMarco’ Johnson, Andre Akkari , Tuan Lam, Ben Grundy, Isabelle Mercier, David Coclough, and child protégé Annette Obrestad, were all out of the game. Most surprising possibly, however, was the early fall of the first ever EPT Grand Final winner, Rob Hollink.
Where there’s failure, there’s always success; and Chris “Genesis28” Lee may have been yesterdays picture of it. Coming back from teetering on the edge Lee spent most of the day fighting elimination only to jump to 20,000 and then to 42,000 taking no prisoners along the way, to finish the day number three in the chip leaders’ board.
After 12 hours and six and a half levels of play, the 180 remaining players retired for a well deserved days rest at 1.15am local time. They will return tomorrow for day 2 of play. The chip leaders table from day 1a is as follows:
- Stephan Kjerstad - 100,000
- Johnny Lodden - 90,000
- Chris Lee - 82,000
- Shaun Deeb - 80,000
- Woody Deck - 66,000
- Maxime Villemure - 52,000
- Peter Roche - 50,000
- Marcel Luske - 48,000
- Mel Judah - 47,350
- Thomas Fougeron - 40,000
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2007-2008 EPT Grand Final
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Friday, April 11, 2008
Tomorrow, Saturday April 12th, will mark the beginning of the European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo, and thus the end of what has been a fantastic fourth season of the European Poker Tour.
Tonight at 21:30 (local time), there will be satellites, sit & go’s and registration for the main event in the poker room of the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort. At 13:00 tomorrow the doors will open again for the real thing. The 6 day Grand Final will include the 5 day Main Event, as well as 4 side events. The schedule looks like this:
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April 11, 21:30 |
Poker room opens at 9.30pm for Satellites, Sit & Gos & Registration for Main Event |
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April 12, 13:00 |
EPT Main Event Day 1A -- €10,000 Freezeout (+600)
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April 13, 13:00 |
EPT Main Event Day 1B
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April 13, 22:30 |
MEDIA TOURNAMENT
Free-roll for all accredited media |
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April 14, 13: 00 |
€500 (+50) No Limit Hold'em - 1 Rebuy or Add on
Two-day tournament; Final Table April 15, 2pm |
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April 14, 20:00 |
EPT Main Event Day 2 |
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April 15, 13:00 |
EPT Main Event Day 3 |
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April 15, 17:00 |
€1,000 (+70) No Limit Hold'em - Freezeout
Two-day tournament; Final Table April 16, 2pm |
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April 16, 13:00 |
EPT Main Event Day 4 |
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April 16, 14:00 |
€2,000 (+100) No Limit Hold'em - Freezeout
Two-day tournament; Final Table April 17, 2pm |
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April 17, 14:00 |
EPT Main Event - FINAL |
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April 17, 14:00 |
€500 (+50) No Limit Hold'em - Freezeout |
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Foxwoods Finish - Full Tilt Poker's Seidel takes the pot
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Thursday, April 10, 2008
If you’ve been feeling like the 2008 Foxwoods Poker Classic Tournament has been going on for ever, you wouldn’t be the only one. It did, however, finally come to an end yesterday. After nearly 12 hours of final table play and 229 hands, a very relieved Erik Seidel (who is also part of the team of poker pros at Full Tilt Poker) took the first place prize. The runners up positions fell out as follows:
2. Robert Richardson, $558,792
3. Andrew Barta, $281,011
4. Frank Cieri, $200,261
5. Adam Katz, $151,811
6. Ted Forrest, $103,360
Seidel has been playing professional poker since he took second place at the 1988 World Series of Poker Championship Event. The born and bred New Yorker started his gaming career as a backgammon player, but has since 1988 accrued 121 poker tournament cash prizes, and 8 WSOP bracelets. Yesterday’s win of $992,890 was his biggest to date, although his collective earnings add up to over 8 millions dollars. The 49 year old currently resides in Las Vegas, and appears to have no plans of retiring any time soon.
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Foxwoods Final Table
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Tuesday, April 8, 2008
On the penultimate day of the Foxwoods Poker Classic Tournament it took four hours of play until the final 3 eliminations were completed, creating the final table for tomorrow.
Michael Farris was the first to go. An hour and a half in, Farris went all in with a Ks 10s, against Richardson’s pocket sevens. The board turned up 9h 6h 4s 9s 2c. Farris left with $40,378. It was only a few minutes later that Allen Bari bade the tournament farewell too; taking the 8th position prize of $48,450.
It was then a full hour and a half before the final elimination occurred. Natale Kuey, 3rd place winner of last years United States Poker Championship and WSOP’s Harrah’s Atlantic City Poker Tournament went out on the 72nd hand of the day. After a 15 minute break and chip count, the blinds were increased to 15,000/30,000 and a 4, 000 ante. The first hand saw Seidal take the pot; the second has Kuey move all in from an early position; Ted Forrest calls with a 6H 6S. Kuey’s As Kh simply isn’t enough with the Qh 10s 5h 6s 10s board. She left with $71,061.
The chip count going into the final day is:
Erik Seidel 3,280,000
Ted Forrest 2,347,000
Adam Katz 2,311,000
Andrew Barta 1,522,000
Robert Richardson 526,000
Frank Cieri 403,000
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Rumors: WSOP Main Event to be Delayed for TV Audience
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Sunday, April 6, 2008
Rumors are beginning to fly around the Internet claiming that there may possibly be a delay in the WSOP main event final table this year in order to accommodate a premium live TV airing.
According to one rumor; the 13 day tournament would proceed as normal up to the final table. When the tournament gets to this stage play will halt, and the final 9 will reconvene possibly up to several months later to play out the final table in a live television extravaganza. The logic being, the rumors claim, that if done like this the individual players will be known and thereby a huge asset to the ad run up.
Meanwhile, other rumors purport that the final table will be played in a closed set in July, but it will not be aired until September; again allowing for the finalists to be involved in promoting the final table event.
The WSOP website makes no mention of any such plan.
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Raj Patel Set to Do it Again?
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Saturday, April 5, 2008
Its early days, in the 6 day World Poker Tour Foxwoods Poker Classic Tournament, but last years winner, Raj Patel, at this point seems set to repeat history.
A number of big names were lost in day 1 of the tournament including David “the Dragon” Pham in the first level, Hasan Habib, Cliff “Johnny Bax” Josephy, T.J. Cloutier, Issac Haxton and Justin Bonomo early on. Later eliminations were just as surprising and included David Williams, Sully Erna, Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler, and Nick Schulman.
Patel however was not going to go the same way; in the final half hour of play he took the lead and ended the day as chip leader with 192,000. He will return today for another 5 levels, along with the other 217 remaining players of the original field of 346. All are hoping to get one step closer to the first prize of $967,300 and a $25,000 seat at the World Poker Tour Championship.
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American takes San Remo by Storm
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Saturday, April 5, 2008
0 to 869,000 in just 15 minutes. It wasn’t quite zero, but 15 minutes was all it took for the EPT San Remo Tournament to go from 3 players to 1, and Jason Mercier was the one.
At 5:40 this evening local time, Dario Minieri went out of the tournament in third place taking home 287,000 Euros. Having built up a 719k pot with Mercier on a 2h, 7d, 8d flop, Minieri and Mercier were leading Lellouche by miles. Mercier went all in, after Minieri bet 200,000. Minieri called and Mercier revealed a Ad, 4d. Minieri had the right to look concerned with his pocket queens; but the turn revealed a 4h, and the river a 3d. Concern turned to dismay as the last Italian left the tournament.
The heads up match began at 5.50 and it took only a further 5 minutes to finish off Antony Lellouche. The second hand of the heads up game saw Lellouche pushing all in; Mercier called. Lellouche showed pocket 7s, Mercier K,Q. The flop, was a Qs,As,4c and was followed by an 8c in the turn and a 2c in the river: Lellouche left with 505,000 Euros.
Mercier has been playing poker for around 4 years, mostly online where he is known as treysfull21. This is his first live tournament win, and only the second major live tournament he’s competed in. He returns to Florida with 869,000 Euros.
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EPT San Remo Main Event Day 3: Ready or not, Here it Comes
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Friday, April 4, 2008
Yesterday saw 207 players participating in Day 2 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo Championship: Today, when play starts at 3 p.m. (6 am PST) for day 3 of the Main Event, only 31 will return.
Yesterday saw the defeat of Thor Hansen, Daniel Negranu, and Max “The Italian Pirate” Pescatori, within the first few levels; all in all a very exciting and fast early game. With a total of 700 entrants this, the penultimate EPT 2008 tournament, is offering one of the largest EPT prize pots ever and has been largely fast moving and exciting. However, the last hour or so of second day play did drag somewhat; with few all-ins or big moves to pass the time. Then, with 5 minutes left, and 33 players, the tournament director declared 5 more hands – enough time to spell the end for Anthony Spinella and Alessandro De Michele.
Chip leader from day 1a, Ville Nyman of Finland, will be starting day 3 second from the bottom of the pile with 61,000 chips, whilst chip leader from day 1b, Erik Koskas of France, will be starting second from the top with 596,000; 88,000 less than chip leader Jason Mercier.
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World Poker Tour Foxwoods Poker Classic Tournament Begins
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Friday, April 4, 2008
Foxwoods Resort Casino is the venue for the last WPT tournament to be held before the WPT World Championship in the Belagio, Las Vegas on the 19th of April. The final tournament of the Foxwoods Poker Classics Tournament will start at noon EDT today, and run until April 9th.
The six day event has only one day 1 and will be run by the following schedule:
Days 1-3: 5 levels of play
Day 4: Down to 18 players
Day 5: down to 6 players
Day 6: Final table
The $10, 000 buy-in no-limits texas hold’em tournament will run with a 30, 000 starting chip count and 90 minutes per level, as opposed to the originally planned 20, 000 starting chip count. Last year, the Foxwoods Poker Classics WPT tournament had 415 entrants, and was won by Raj Patel who beat Paul Matteo to the $1, 298, 405 first prize.
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UIGEA Enforcement Deemed Dubious
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Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Today was the day of the planned House of Representatives subcommittee hearing regarding the laws proposed for enforcing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act; the general consensus was not positive.
Representatives of financial institutions including the Treasury Department purported that the suggested rules are so confusing and unclear that it is unlikely they will ever work. Meanwhile, banking representatives expressed concern that the ambiguity of the rules will erode the financial system itself.
One of the major issues faced in the enforcement of the UIGEA is that the act itself does not determine the precise definition of illegal online gambling; neither does the federal government. A further problem is the requirements of banks to determine whether individual transactions are for online gambling; essentially making them the law enforcement agents – a task that is not only difficult to expect but in reality unlikely to be carried out.
The hearing was held today in order to discuss publicly some of the concerns that have been raised since the proposal of the UIGEA last year. It is now for the Treasury Federal Reserve System and the Treasury Department to reassess and potentially revise the rules.
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Asian Poker Tour Schedule Announced
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Tuesday, April 1, 2008
The schedule for the four-stop Asian Poker Tour 2008, was released today. The first stop of the tour will be in Manila in the Philippines where the event will run from May 27th to June 1. The next stop will be Macau, followed by South Korea, and ending up in Singapore. The dates for the last three events have not yet been announced but will be shortly, along with details of location, pre-registration and satellite events.
The 6 day, $2,500 buy-in, Manila event will see over 400 players competing for a share of the guaranteed million dollar prize pool. The 2008 Asian Poker Tour is testimony to the growing popularity of poker in Asia; organizers hope that the 2009 tournament will consist of 6 events!
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From Norway to Nottingham?
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Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Nottingham is a long way from Norway. Unless of course you’re flown there on a specially chartered flight by Expekt.com, sponsors of the Norwegian Poker Championship.
Why, you may ask, would the Norwegians be playing in Nottingham? In short - to avoid prosecution. The Norwegian government has deemed poker a lottery sport and therefore illegal, making all players subject to criminal prosecution. Rather, than rolling over, however, the organizers of the Norwegian Poker Championship have chosen to simply play outside of the country.
The Norwegian Poker Championship is in its 7th year, and this year expects to attract 500 players. The 8 day event will be hosted in the Dusk Till Dawn poker super club in Nottingham, England, between April 28th and May 5th. The main event players will be competing for a WSOP (World Series of Poker) main event package and the respectable 350,000 GBP prize pool.
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